Prohibition of deterioration in the Energy Saving Ordinance even in case of construction defects?

Dear readers,

10 months after moving in and 8 months after the acceptance of the common property, the insulation in the underground garage of our new multi-family building already has to be replaced. Reason: EPS with a thickness of 140 mm is installed as ceiling insulation, which has the legally required fire protection class B1, but only up to a thickness of 80 mm "in a horizontal arrangement."

The developer now wants to reduce the 140 mm to 80 mm and claims that the energy saving ordinance requirement for the transmission heat loss of the entire building envelope is still met. That may be true, but what about the prohibition of deterioration from the energy saving ordinance? After all, the building has been occupied for almost a year and has also been completely accepted for more than half a year (at that time the missing fire protection of the insulation was not yet noticed) – so presumably a "existing building."

I – not entirely neutrally, of course – am of the opinion that the insulation value of the 140 mm EPS must definitely be maintained, even if this leads to the use of a significantly more expensive insulation material such as mineral wool.

What do the experts think? Many thanks in advance for all the input!

I would see it the same way. From the perspective of the contractor's contract to be adhered to. He has surely contractually committed to comply with the agreed thermal insulation. In doing so, he must not "override" other laws, so he should have known from the start that the insulation he used, while sufficient to achieve the thermal insulation, is still too thick for fire protection. Now he "must" comply with both the law AND the contract. How he manages to reconcile both is his problem. In my opinion, one cannot expect a client to know that.

But the legal abysses are sometimes unfathomable. And I don't know the contract with your [BU]. :)

Hello,

10 months after moving in and 8 months after the acceptance of the communal property, the insulation in the underground car park of our newly built multi-family house already has to be replaced. Reason: EPS with a thickness of 140 mm was installed as ceiling insulation, but the legally required fire protection class B1 only applies "for horizontal arrangement" up to a thickness of 80 mm.

In what context was this noticed? Actually, - if Kfw 70 or lower was to be achieved, a renewed proof must be provided that after completion of the multi-family house it actually corresponds to Kfw "X". And in my opinion, this proof should have been done earlier.

The developer now wants to reduce the 140 mm to 80 mm and claims that the energy saving ordinance requirement for the transmission heat loss of the entire building envelope is still complied with.

See above. I assume he can claim a lot; he must also provide the proof.

I take – admittedly not entirely neutral – the position that the insulation value of the 140 mm EPS should definitely be retained, even if this leads to the use of a significantly more expensive insulation material such as mineral wool.

"More" insulation does not necessarily have to be better; moreover, proportionality is also important; the multi-family house is already inhabited.

Rhenish regards

Thank you very much for the responses. Contractually, nothing else is regulated other than compliance with the basic requirements of the Energy Saving Ordinance. You can't avoid those anyway. With significantly worse insulation of the garage ceiling (and thus the apartments above), the BT will probably still meet the minimum requirement for transmission heat loss.

However, if one takes the position that a building transitions to existing stock from the point of acceptance (=existing building), then of course with any subsequent construction measure - for whatever reason - the prohibition of deterioration according to the Energy Saving Ordinance must be observed.

The interesting question is whether there is another, reasonably plausible date for the definition of "existing building" that comes later.